Immigration Equality

Lesbian and Gay Immigration Rights Task Force/L.A.

c/o L.A. Gay & Lesbian Center / Legal Services

1625 North Schrader Boulevard / Los Angeles, CA 90028-9998

voice: 323.526.2915 / fax: 323.993.7653 / e-mail: lgirtf@abacus.oxy.edu

web: http://www.qrd.org/qrd/www/world/immigration/lgirtfla.html

The next meeting of Immigration Equality will be on the third Tuesday of the month--Tuesday June 15--at 7pm at the L.A. Gay & Lesbian Center (1625 North Schrader Boulevard in Hollywood, two blocks west of Cahuenga Boulevard and one-half block south of Hollywood Boulevard). We will be meeting in Room 204 (on the second floor) in the library of the Legal Services Department. This month’s topic will be "What's next in gay and lesbian immigration."

The Clinton Administration has announced that natives of Guatemala and El Salvador who are eligible will be able to suspend deportation proceedings and gain permanent residence more easily because the I.N.S. will presume that they will be subject to "extreme hardship" if returned to Central America. This administrative change could lead to legal permanent residency in the U.S. by nearly 500 000 people from Guatemala and El Salvador, nearly 40 percent of whom are in Southern California.

The Supreme Court of Canada recently ruled in the case of M. vs. H., a lesbian alimony case, that the term 'spouse' in Canadian law must be equally applied to same-sex partners. Though the underlying question was whether a person in a same-sex relationship had equivalent responsibilities to support a spouse after dissolution of the relationship as a married person does. The Canadian Supreme Court ruled 8-1 that they do, and more broadly that Canadian law must treat different-sex and opposite-sex partners equally. Though the Court also said that it was not legalizing same-sex marriage, it gave the Federal Government of Canada six months to remove discrimination in all Federal statutes. It is expected that gay and lesbian immigration will be one of the areas which will be affected almost immediately.

The Los Angeles Times reported May 25 that in response to studies that welfare use by noncitizen households has dropped 35% from 1994 to 1997, the Clinton administration has issued regulations making it clear that acceptance of non-cash aid can not be used against legal immigrants. Some legal immigrants are not aware that they can accept aid from state and federal sources without it affecting their immigration status. The confusion arises from the phrase "public charge" which appears in U.S. immigration law. The law says that people who wish to become permanent residents or U.S. citizens can not be "public charges" and this has been incorrectly interpreted by some as making them ineligible for all federal or state aid.

It's summer again, and that means gay and lesbian pride celebrations in the Southland.

Upcoming events are Los Angeles (June 12-13), Oakland (June 19-20), San Francisco (June 26-27), San Diego (July 23-25) and Orange County (August 14-15). If you would be interested in highlighting gay and lesbian immigration issues and the Lesbian and Gay Immigration Rights Task Force in particular at any of these events please contact Ron Buckmire at 323.259.2536.

The Lesbian and Gay Immigration Rights Task Force, our parent organization has a website at http://www.lgirtf.org/

The International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission, which has an Asylum Project,

is at http://www.iglhrc.org/

The Lambda Legal Defense and Education Fund, the most prominent U.S. organization devoted to gay and lesbian legal issues has a section of its website devoted to immigration at

The Cato Institute and The National Immigration Forum have placed the text of their 1995

report on demographic and economic facts of Immigration in the U.S. on the web, at

The National Immigration Forum has a website at

The American Immigration Lawyers Association has a very useful website at http://www.aila.org/

The Stonewall Immigration Group, our sister organization in the United Kingdom has a website at

The Immigration and Naturalization Service has its official website at http://www.ins.usdoj.gov/

The law firm of Siskind et al has launched a website which has copies of actual INS forms at http://www.visalaw.com/

The Canadian law firm of SMITH & HUGHES has an OUT/LAW Immigration site at

The Queer Resources Directory, the oldest queer internet archive, has a section devoted to

immigration at http://www.qrd.org/qrd/www/world/immigration